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Nichia Moves Into Volume Production Ofhigh Power Violet LASER Diodes

TOKYO, JAPAN - June 18, 2001 - Nichia Corporation announced today that its NLHV3000 series of high power violet laser diodes are moving into volume production. The NLHV3000 series laser diodes have a 405 nm peak wavelength and a 30 mW maximum optical power output, delivering up to five times the data storage capacity of red lasers commonly used in today's DVD players.
Manufacturers can use these violet laser diodes to expand the storage capacity of next generation DVD discs from the current 4.7 gigabytes to more than 20 gigabytes. This increased storage allows each DVD disc to hold up to ten hours of recorded video, instead of today's two hour limit. In addition to DVD players, these violet laser diodes can replace red laser diodes currently used in video games, laser printers, and scanners.

The NLHV3000 series are manufactured using Nichia's patented indium gallium nitride (InGaN) semiconductor technology. The wavelength of InGaN violet lasers is about two-thirds the 650 nm wavelength of red laser diodes used in today's DVD players. The shorter wavelength produced by InGaN contributes to the five-fold increase in data storage capacity of the next generation DVD discs. The increased optical power output of the NLHV3000 series enables the violet laser to not only read data but also write data for the next generation higher density optical disc.

" We are thankful to the great efforts of Nichia's R&D and production engineers," said Noboru Tazaki, Managing Director and General Manager of Nichia's Optoelectronics Products Division. "Due to recent improvements in Nichia's production line and laser diode performance, customers will soon have access to quality violet laser diodes in production quantities."

Nichia is recognized as the world leader in InGaN LED and laser diode technology. In 1993 and 1994, Nichia developed the world's first high brightness InGaN blue and green LEDs. In 1995, Nichia demonstrated the world's first InGaN violet laser diode operating in pulsed operation at room-temperature. In 1996, Nichia developed a white LED by covering an InGaN blue LED with phosphor (thereby mixing blue light and down-converted yellow light to create white light). In 1998, Nichia developed the world's first InGaN yellow LED. And in 1999, Nichia began commercial sales of InGaN violet laser diodes; a sampling program of 440 nm InGaN blue laser diodes followed in 2001. Nichia is the world's only commercial supplier of InGaN laser diodes.

Nichia was established in Japan in 1956 to manufacture calcium phosphate used in the production of fluorescent lamp phosphors. Since that time, Nichia has grown in the field of manufacturing and sales of fine chemicals, particularly inorganic luminescent materials (phosphors), high brightness LEDs, and, recently, laser diodes. Nichia was formerly known as Nichia Chemical Industry Company, Limited.